


A Not So Silent Night

by homework78



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Humor, M/M, this is quite silly I hope everyone likes it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homework78/pseuds/homework78
Summary: Frank tries to deliver presents to those he deems deserving on Christmas Eve. Matt tries to help. 'Tries' being the key word.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ORiley42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ORiley42/gifts).



The police scanner sitting on Matt's kitchen counter had been a gift of sorts. It wasn't something he would have sought out for himself: his enhanced hearing did most of that job for him. Hell's Kitchen was a small place and it was rare for Matt to miss something happening in his own neighborhood. 

But the incident with the Hand had taught him more than a few things about his own limits, and so when Frank showed up on his rooftop a week before Christmas, holding out a the police scanner, Matt didn't turn him away. He had accepted it -- awkwardly, as Frank seemed hesitant to let it go -- and before he could ask what brought on this burst of holiday spirit, Frank took off down the fire escape. 

Well, fine. Matt had better things to do than follow Frank Castle around, he thought grumpily. Now the police scanner sat next to Matt's coffee maker in plain view of anyone who chose to walk in, beeping and murmuring and pushing out static in between the police chatter. Matt faced it as he finished off the last of his coffee, taking in the final caffeine boost he needed to get through Christmas Eve night.

Leaving it out didn't bother Matt. It wasn't like he got regular visitors anymore. He had a clear schedule this Christmas.

The thought made his shoulders twitch. The last drops of coffee jumped in his coffee cup. He swallowed the last of it and put it in the sink. He could wash it out in the morning and re-use it. Karen would have scolded him for it but Karen wasn't here. 

He put on the suit and lingered for one final moment in the kitchen, listening for anything special. At first it was just the usual inscrutable police talk -- codes, numbers, colors, and the dispatcher's exhausted voice directing police cars to each incident. Then there was a fresh crackle and an officer's voice cut through the noise. 

_ "Hey! We've got a break-in at the VA hospital in Chelsea! It's a guy with a shotgun -- and he has a skull painted on his chest!"  _

There was a clatter as a stiff breeze rattled the open window frame. Matt forgot to close it on his way out.

* * *

 

It would have taken Matt longer to get to the VA hospital if it hadn't been for the bus going his way. He alighted on top of it as it rumbled down the street. Even at this hour, plenty of New Yorkers ran around the city and they saw him. Most ignored him though the pedestrians with small children had to explain that Daredevil was not the man in the red suit that they expected. Matt would have laughed except there was so much freezing sleet that he couldn't get his jaw open. 

The VA hospital in Chelsea was deserted. The lone security guard had been the one to call in the broken window on the 3rd floor that he discovered on his rounds. Matt listened from an adjacent rooftop as he explained what happened to a police officer: the security guard heard the shattering glass and went to investigate. No one had been there when he arrived but he followed the trail of wet footprints to the elevator and that was when he saw the intruder: a hulking man in a leather jacket, a shotgun slung over his shoulder, and carrying a backpack. The security guard had no idea what the intruder looked like. His attention had been caught by the white skull, livid on the black bulletproof vest that adorned the man's chest.

Matt shook his head. Frank was too clumsy. 

The window hadn't been papered over yet. Matt slipped through the opening. It was easier for him than it likely had been for Frank -- Matt was considerably smaller. He picked his way across the broken glass and followed Frank's scent to the elevator. There were no patients on this floor: just the smell of old cardboard and molding paper. Medical records probably.

Matt paused as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. There were no heartbeats on the floors beneath him. All of the patients had congregated to the top floor, grouped into clusters. The patients were talking to each other, their excited voices ebbing and swelling like ocean waves. He wondered if one of the voices belonged to Frank, but there was too much concrete and steel between them to be sure.

What the hell was Frank doing? Why would he break into a VA hospital on Christmas Eve?

The patients' talking got considerably louder when the elevator doors opened. It only took a moment to figure out that Frank wasn't one of them. Matt growled in frustration before he took off down the hallway. They were all clustered together in one patient's room, some spilling out into the hallway and the rest piled up on the bed. Matt could taste the edges of their IVs; smell their medication and saline; even the texture of the gauze and bandages that adorned many of them impacted him in the air. 

Matt stole into an adjacent room. He could hear the sounds of rustling and tearing paper. The patients compared their gifts and babbled in excitement at what they found. 

“Shit, is that the scarf you wanted?”

“My wife’s gonna love this, I can’t believe it--”

“He brought me cash for my prescriptions!”

“It’s a picture frame. I can put my son in this…”

“Oh man, best Christmas ever!”

And just like that, everything made sense. Matt nearly fell over at the revelation: Frank had delivered Christmas presents to the patients in the VA hospital. And now the police were after him.

Matt had to track him down, fast.

* * *

 

When Matt finally found Frank on the upper side of Midtown he was staking out a retirement home. Matt breathed a sigh of relief and landed on the water tower just behind Frank's position. "Frank! The cops are headed this way, we can't stay here!"

Frank nearly dropped his binoculars. "Red! Jesus, what are you doing?"

"What am I doing? What are you doing? You're being sloppy!" 

Frank groaned. "Go to hell, Red."

Matt huffed and dropped down the short distance to land beside him. "We don't have time for this, the police are onto you and they'll be here soon. You can't deliver Christmas presents from the back of a cop car."

Frank's countenance turned sullen. "Who said I was delivering presents? I'm on a stakeout. And you're in my way." 

"Frank, I know you've been handing out presents to the patients in the VA hospitals."

Frank's face did something funny that Matt couldn't fully detect. It was probably a deeper version of his usual frown.

"I'm not trying to make you stop, I just think we can do it a smarter way --"

"'We?'" Frank levelled a finger at Matt. "No, no, no, Red, there's no 'we' here. This is my op and you can butt out!"

Matt snorted. "Your 'op.' Breaking through windows and calling attention to yourself is your idea of an 'op.'"

"And just what the hell are you doing Red? Zipping around in that eyesore? You think you're better than me, you ingrate --"

"Frank, I visited the patients in the last hospital you visited."

That shut him up.

"And you know what? They're all pretty happy." Matt paused to give the words a chance to sink in. "Especially considering all of them are alone."

Frank's shoulders twitched hard at that. Matt nearly touched him -- he was almost that stupid. But when his hands reached for Frank's face, he caught himself. 

The cop cars were getting closer. Soon even Frank would hear them. The frigid winter wind howled around them and Matt could smell the snow heavy in the clouds. It would come down soon.

He wanted Frank somewhere safe before that happened. Alive to fight another day.

And it was Christmas. Love your enemy and all that.

That was what Elektra never understood and that Frank knew instinctively. That Matt wanted to love his enemies.

Frank said nothing. He didn't move. The binoculars dangled from his hand. Even his breathing slowed. He cut a warm, man-shaped hole in the night. 

"Red... They don't have nothin', Red. They don't have families or friends 'cept each other. And I -- I just -- " Frank inhaled.

Matt knew how it was. Sometimes the emotions bubbled over, no matter how tightly the lid was clamped.

Frank pulled himself together. "I want them to have something."

The sirens were much closer now. Matt made a pleading gesture. "Frank, let me deliver those. I'm quicker than you are. You need to get out of here."

Frank stared at him. His heart hammered a mile a minute -- why?

"Red," he began and then stopped. "No. Matt --"

"Frank, you need to go." Matt gave him a push. When Frank didn't budge he pushed again, harder. Frank kept staring at him. "Frank!"

Matt could hear the fan belts in their engines when Frank finally set the backpack full of presents at Matt's feet. He took a step forward and two steps back. What the hell was wrong with him? 

"I'll." Frank turned away. "I'll meet you at your place."

Matt opened his mouth to protest, to tell Frank to keep his ass out of Matt's apartment, but that was when Frank finally made it over the edge of the building and scaled the fire escape down to the street. 

Matt touched the backpack. It was heavy with the small gifts Frank had chosen. Probably bought with the mob money that he recovered from his hits. Did Frank get one for every resident?

Now came the hard part, Matt thought: deliver the presents and not get arrested.

* * *

 

Evelyn Wards didn't mind staying late on Christmas Eve. The rest of the staff had families and friends to spend the holiday with but Evelyn was a single woman living far away from her family. It made her the best candidate for the unpopular night shift at the busiest time of the year. Ordinarily the night shift at the retirement home was peaceful with only her and the maintenance man Eduardo Stevens to keep the sleeping residents company. But this year was a bit different. Eduardo had the idea of handing out gifts to the residents, declaring it criminal that the management didn’t already do this, and he added, he wanted to dress up as the Big Man himself when laying them out.

Evelyn adored the idea and when midnight rolled around, she helped Eduardo get dressed. The costume was heavy after all and it required help in getting the belt cinched. 

"Well," he said as she straightened his coat. "How do I look Miss Wards?"

Evelyn flopped the puff ball off his face. "Like a real North Pole elf."

Eduardo smiled at her. It did wonderful things for his eyes. Evelyn smiled back. It dawned on her that this might a different kind of Christmas -- the kind where everything changed. Where everything became better.

Eduardo leaned closer. "There isn't mistletoe in here is there?"

"Oh, damn," Evelyn said. "I knew I forgot to put something up."

"Ah, well," he replied. "We'l ]l just wing it. And Evelyn laughed and held her breath, closing her eyes in anticipation of what came next --

\-- and it would have been perfect. It would have been beautiful. It would have been amazing if someone hadn't crawled through the office window right then. 

At first Evelyn thought she was hallucinating when she heard the window scrape open. It was a man in a red suit, carrying a bag over one shoulder as he struggled to get through the window. Except.

Except.

It wasn't Santa standing behind Eduardo. It was something else. Something else whose name started with an 'S'.

Satan stood in her office.

"Oh goddammit," Satan said.

Evelyn croaked. Eduardo flung a protective arm in front of her.

"You weren't supposed to see me," Satan continued. "Look, let me just--"

Evelyn started shrieking. 

"No, wait!" Satan held up one hand but Eduardo, fearless and brave, wasn't fooled and so he drove his fist into the Devil's face, the Santa hat fell to the floor and then the Devil fell flat on his back--

* * *

 

"Daredevil Brawls with Retirement Home Santa Clause."

"Frank, for the love of God."

Frank found another headline, giggling breathlessly.

"Daredevil Proves that Satan Hates Christmas! Red Horned Menace Steals Christmas Presents from Vietnam Veterans! -- oh, that one's from The Daily Bugle, that's always good for a laugh. Satanic Homosexual Loses Fistfight to the Almighty (Janitor)! Ha!"

Matt threw the bag of ice at Frank's head. "Don't read Drudge Report headlines in my house!"

Frank howled with laughter. "Red, you were supposed to deliver the Christmas presents, not scare the hell out of a janitor and his lady friend with 'em!"

Matt snarled and sat up on the couch. His left eye throbbed, his wrist was sprained, and he was fairly sure there were some loose teeth in his mouth courtesy of the heroic maintenance man. "They were supposed to be gone by the time I made it to the entry point! I didn't know they would start making out!"

Frank dropped his forehead to Matt's kitchen table and laughed even harder. Matt wished he had a pillow so he could scream into it. Having Frank in Matt's space would be traumatic enough except he had insisted on doing strange things -- like making coffee, and toasting panettone for breakfast in between putting ice on Matt's black eye and laughing himself sick reading out headlines as the news of Daredevil's escapade spread. The best part, Frank claimed, was that Matt had made himself so infamous that no one was reporting on the Punisher's own gift-giving adventures, which kept Frank's reputation intact. Not even a threat from Matt to expose him to Karen had made a dent in Frank's absurd cheer.

"You're overreacting," Matt replied sullenly.

"Red. Red, Red, Red. Oh, Red." Frank left the kitchen table and flung himself down on the couch. He even lifted Matt's feet and put them in his lap. "Screw 1988, this is the best Christmas present I ever got. Oh God, you made an absolute idiot of yourself and everyone knows it."

Matt almost asked what had happened in 1988 but it was probably dog-related and thus not something Matt was interested in. He pulled his feet off Frank's lap and curled up in a sulky ball. He didn't have to take this, no matter how great the panettone had tasted. (With real maple syrup. The inspired sensory memory of Jack Murdock and pancakes on Easter morning had taken Matt by surprise. He told Frank the tears were from biting too quickly into the hot bread. Frank didn't push.)

Frank reached over and squeezed the toe of his boot. Matt kicked him. "Don't be bitchy Red, it's Christmas."

"I'll bitch if I want to!"

"Ugh!" It sounded like Frank was rolling his eyes. "Did you at least get the presents delivered?"

"God, yes, Frank I got your stupid presents delivered. You could have told me they had labels on them!"

"I wanted to leave you with the joy of discovery," and oh God did Matt hate Frank Castle in that moment. 

"You unbelievable, unprincipled, thoughtless --"

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to stick around if you're just gonna insult me."

" -- rude and conniving and murderous --"

"Blah, blah."

Matt could feel his face purpling. No one got under his skin the way Frank did. "-- and I thought you were trying to do something good but no, this was all a ploy to get me in trouble wasn't it--"

"Yes, Red, I planned it all out from the start, I thought to myself, 'how can I get Matt Murdock in trouble on the holiest day of the year' and then it came to me --"

"-- something came to you Frank but it sure as hell wasn't a well thought out plan!"

Frank thumped him lightly on the head. "Merry Christmas to you too." Then he braced the heel of his hand against Matt's forehead as he lunged for Frank's throat, keeping himself just out of reach. "Careful there, you have a good streak going. Don't want your first death to be on Christmas Day, do you?"

What happened next was a bit of a blur. Matt remembered rearing back and punching Frank square on the nose; he remembered Frank dragging him to the floor; and Matt remembered kicking Frank's knee and sending Frank sprawling. But everything else was a confused mess, because Frank's heart wasn't beating the way it usually did when they fought and Matt knew he wasn't quite himself either. The flush spread from his face and through his body until it felt like flames were licking the inside of his frame. 

And Frank noticed. Of course he did.

He took Matt's chin in one hand and forced him to face Frank directly. They were both panting from the exertion which only made things worse. 

"You're red all over," Frank said. 

"I usually am," Matt snapped. 

"Mmm-hm. Red. Matt, c'mere."

'Matt.'

Matt knew what this was. He hesitantly followed until their faces were only inches apart. "Frank," he began but Frank hushed him and pressed their lips together.

Matt wanted to pull away but every twist of his head only opened up a new path of exploration and he kept forgetting to stop. They only parted briefly for Frank to get a handful of hair from the back of Matt's head in his grip. Then it was back to kissing, warm and nearly chaste except for soft tongue stroking its way into Matt's mouth.

It was easy to lose time this way. Easy to forget that. It had been a long time since Matt had simply lain on his own rug and kissed someone just because. He would have kept at it even if Frank's possessive hand hadn't been driving Matt even deeper and deeper into his mouth until Matt was held practically immobile, only able to make small noises as Frank fucked his mouth with that tongue -- gently, so gently but so insistent. 

When Frank let him go, Matt whimpered.

"Now you're really blushing," Frank said. "Does that go all the way down?"

Matt scoffed. "I wouldn't know. Why don't you tell me?"

He yelped when Frank dragged Matt into his lap, leaving him straddling Frank's hips. "How do you get this thing open?"

"There's a zipper," Matt said. "On the back." He hesitated and then turned until he sat with his back to Frank's face. He held the zipper between two fingers. "See?"

Frank didn't say anything. He took the zipper in his hand and just started pulling down.

The air on Matt's sweaty skin was cool. He shivered and tried not to make a sound; but the cold air still tightened his nipples and made his mouth drier and drier the lower Frank pulled it down. How far would he go to satisfy his curiosity? 

Frank hit Matt's lower back and didn't stop. He hit Matt's hips and didn't stop, until he had pulled the zipper down over Matt's bottom and exposed him completely.

"Red all over," he said. He took a handful of Matt's left cheek and squeezed, sending Matt rocking forward with a gasp. "I knew it."

"No," Matt said breathlessly. "No you don't."

"Oh, really?"

"Well." Matt turned a little. Frank's hand was cupping his ass and it made forming words incredibly difficult. "You haven't checked the front have you?"

"Oh, shit." 

Matt turned around. All this swiveling was making him dizzy. Frank started tugging the suit off his shoulders. Matt leaned down until their lips were only a few inches away. "I'm not wishing you a Merry Christmas, asshole," he said. Their lips were almost touching.

"Or a happy New Year," Frank agreed. And then they got to the most enjoyable part of Christmas: unwrapping the presents.


End file.
